


Wherever is your heart I call home

by Hepzheba



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Stiles, Getting Together, M/M, Monster of the Week, Single Parent Derek Hale, Succubi & Incubi, Witch Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 19:43:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21003140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hepzheba/pseuds/Hepzheba
Summary: After having being left by his girlfriend and mother of his daughter, Derek goes back to Beacon Hills. The place holds some bad memories for him, but maybe he can create some new good ones?





	Wherever is your heart I call home

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Camp Nano in July. Hope you like it!

Derek stared up in the ceiling, something had awoken him, but it hadn’t been his daughter Izzie. Probably someone outside the room that had walked past. Izzie woke up with a grunt. Derek turned in his bed towards her in the king sized bed. He had put pillows around her to keep her from rolling off, even though she was no way near rolling anywhere yet. 

“Are you hungry?” he asked his daughter, who gave a wailing sound. Lungs are fine, at least, he thought to himself as he prepared a bottle for her.

He fed her and changed on her and then sat on the bed in the hotel room, holding her. He didn’t know what to do. They couldn’t stay much longer in the hotel. It smelled of strangers, not home. 

He put Izzie down on the bed and picked up his phone. He held his hand over Laura’s number for a long while, swallowing hard. It would feel like a failure going back home. But it was where he wanted to be. He had tried making a home for himself here in New York. It hadn’t worked. He jumped, his eyes flashing bright blue before he could control himself and turn them back to their normal hazel color, when the phone vibrated in his hand. Laura’s name and a picture of her came up on the screen. He debated not answer, but then he swallowed down his cowardice and answered the call. He put the phone to his ear. 

“Yeah?”

His voice sounded rough to his own ears, as if he hadn’t used it in a long time - the only one he had talked to in the last few days was Izzie and she didn’t really give any replies. 

“Yeah?” Laura echoed. “Is that the way to greet your sister?”

“What do you want?” Derek asked, ignoring her bribe at him. 

“Are you okay?” Laura asked instead. 

The words ‘of course’ got stuck somewhere in his throat. Because he wasn’t okay. 

“She left me,” he managed to grit out through clenched teeth. 

“Helen?”

Derek nodded, tears prickling in his eyes. 

“Where are you?”

“At a hotel.”

“And Izzie?”

“She’s with me.”

“Good. Are you coming home?”

Home… It was a foreign word, but at the same time so familiar. 

“I don’t know, Laura,” he said honestly. 

“Please,” Laura said, her voice breaking slightly. “We miss you.  _ I _ miss you.”

“I miss you too,“ Derek said and there was no lie. “I just don’t know if I’m ready.”

“So you’re going to stay in a hotel for the rest of your life?”

Derek had no answer to that. He hadn’t thought of the future, he just did what he had to do to get through the day. 

“Please, come home.”

The plane trip to North California had been a nightmare. Izzie had screamed at the top of her lungs the whole way, annoying everyone and making Derek feel even more of a failure. 

He hitched Izzie higher up on his chest, taking comfort in her scent among all other scents. The there was suddenly a familiar scent - Larua. It smelled like home more than anything. He spotted Laura and Cora quickly after that. Cora where holding a sign saying ‘Welcome home!’ in garish colors. Derek couldn’t help but smile and hugged them both with one arm around each sister, careful of Izzie in her carrier on his chest. Now she’d fallen asleep, which wasn’t weird considering she’d been awake for the whole plane trip. 

“Der!” Laura said and sniffed at him. 

Derek choked up, not being able to say anything. Laura smiled at him and the pain in his chest that he had felt ever since Helen left eased somewhat. 

“Come on,” Cora said. She was the same as she had been when he left all those years ago, but at the same time she looked like a grown-up. Because she was a grown-up now with her twenty-six years, three years younger than Derek, and five years younger than Laura. 

They walked together to the car and Derek put Izzie in the car seat that someone (most likely Laura) had bought. 

Derek sat in the back with Izzie and listened with half-an-ear on his sisters in the front. 

Beacon Hills was the same. Some shops were different, had been replaced by new ones, but it felt the same, looked the same and smelled the same. It felt like home, more than New York had ever done, Derek realized with a pang. 

They drove past the high school and it was not without regret that Derek saw it. As if sensing his distress Laura patted his knee and he felt calmer. 

They moved through town and up on the newly-fixed forest road that would lead them to the Hale house. Derek had seen pictures of it, but he hadn’t seen it in person yet. It was a big white house with a porch on the front. It looked quite a lot like the old house, the one that had been burnt down, but there were some differences. 

“We’ve bought a crib for Izzie,” Cora said. “It’s in your room for now. There is a room available for her too, if you want.”

“I’d rather she slept in my room,” Derek said and Cora smiled and hugged him. 

“I’m glad you’re home, bro,” she said. Derek smiled.

“Me too.”

It wasn’t a lie. 

Derek went on a walk the next day with Izzie in her stroller. She was gurgling and smiling. She seemed happy to be out of the hotel at least. Suddenly there was the scent of magic in the air. Derek was immediately on his guard. A young man stepped out of the forest then, not looking where he was going and stumbling on a branch. He was looking behind him, as if he was being chased. 

“This is private property,” Derek said, because he didn’t know what to say and it  _ was _ private property. 

The guy stumbled on nothing as he turned around, almost falling over. 

“Wha-?” he said. 

“Found you!” another young man came out from the forest and made a halt next to the first guy. Derek growled low in his throat, this one was a werewolf, he didn’t smell like enemy though. 

“Scotty!” the first one said and hit his friend in the chest. ‘Scotty’ turned towards Derek and his face cracked up into a smile. 

“Hey, you must be Derek. Laura has told me all about you. And who might this be?”

He was next to Derek and looking down in the stroller a second later. Derek wanted to shove him away, wanted to roar ‘mine’ over Izzie but he knew that that was no way to behave. 

“Izzie,” he grit out when he realized that Scotty had asked him something. 

“Is she yours?”

Derek nodded and wanted to slap Scotty’s hand away when he reached down to pat Izzie’s cheek. 

“Watch out, she bites,” Derek said, which was a joke, a lame one. 

Scotty quickly withdrew his hand in horror and his friend let out a laugh.

“He’s joking,” his friend said. “You’re joking, right?” he turned his head towards Derek. 

Derek stared at him, willing him to turn his big, brown, doe eyes away. The guy was, apparently, unaware that he shouldn’t challenge a werewolf because he kept staring at Derek, his mouth slightly open. 

“Yeah, I’m joking,” Derek said at last and Scotty drew a sigh of relief, patting Izzie’s chubby cheek again. 

“She’s so cute,” he said, “How old is she?”

“Four weeks this Saturday,” Derek said. 

“She’s very tiny,” Scotty’s friend said, peering over Scotty’s shoulder. 

“She’s a baby,” Derek replied. “Babies are tiny.”

“I think this one is tinier than most.”

“She’s not though,” Derek replied. “She’s a bit over 9 pounds, which is normal.”

The guy smiled at him and Derek didn’t know what to say. 

“We’re heading over to Laura and Cora,” Scotty said, if he was sensing Derek’s lack of something to say or if he just was talkative was unclear. 

Derek nodded. 

“I should head back,” he said.

“We can walk together,” Scotty said and if he had been a dog he would have wagged his tail so hard his whole body had been moving. 

“Sure,” Derek said and turned the stroller around. 

“We were practising Scott’s sense of smell,” the friend said. “I tried to morph my scent so he wouldn’t find me.”

“I wouldn’t have if you two hadn’t started babbling,” Scotty (Scott? Sounded more right) said. 

“We weren’t babbling,” his friend said and muttered, “at least, he wasn’t.”

Derek wasn’t known to be babbling, but these two seemed talkative. 

“Is Izzie a werewolf too?” Scott asked. 

“Can’t you smell it?”

They stopped and Scott frowned as he concentrated. 

“Your scent and hers are all mixed together,” he said. 

“Allow me,” the friend said and Derek hesitantly turned towards him. “If I may?”

Derek nodded, a bit unsure what was going on. The friend did some complicated waving with his hands and a yellow wolf head appeared over the stroller, it quickly disappeared though. Derek hadn’t had time to react, even though he had no idea what he would have done against this witch(?) if he had wanted to hurt Izzie. 

“Pure wolf, that one,” the witch said. 

Derek nodded.

“Her mother was one too.” 

“Was?” Scott echoed.

“Is,” Derek corrected himself. 

“Is she here with you?” Scott asked. 

“No,” Derek said. 

“Where is she then?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Derek replied and started walking again. Talking about Helen made his mood turn sour. 

“Scott!” the witch reprimanded his friend and Derek heard him hurrying up to Derek and Izzie. “Sorry about my friend, he can be insensitive sometimes.”

“Styles!” Scott called out, which Derek had no idea what it meant. 

“I’m sorry, but you can! You think everything is roses and rainbows, but it’s not.”

“I’m sorry if my questions offended you,” Scott said as he came up to the others. 

“It’s alright,” Derek said and Scott smiled at him. 

“You’ve been living in New York, right?” the witch asked. 

“Yeah, for the last ten years.”

“That’s so cool. Did you like it there?” Scott piped in. 

“Yeah, it was okay.”

They walked in silence for a while and then Derek couldn’t stand being curious anymore. 

“How do you two know Laura and Cora?”

“Laura’s the alpha, man,” the witch said. “Not my alpha, but Scott’s. I’m just tagging along. Ever being the sidekick.”

“But you’re a cute sidekick,” Scott laughed and the witch laughed too. 

Derek pretended not to be hurt that Laura hadn’t told him that there were more wolves in the pack. But then again, he hadn’t exactly given her time to.

“Are there more wolves here?”

“There’s Isaac, Erica and Boyd.”

“The three musketeers,” the witch added. 

“And Jackson,” Scott said. 

“Oh, let’s not forget his royal highness Jackson,” the witch said and then added in a stage whisper, “he’s a douche but we let him play with us ‘cause he’s pretty.”

“He’s better now than he was in high school,” Scott said and the witch nodded. 

“And then there’s Lydia, the banshee...”

“A banshee?” Derek interrupted. 

The other two nodded.

“She’s a strawberry blonde, green eyed goddess,” the witch said. 

“And married to Jackson.”

“The douche.”

Derek couldn’t help but snort. 

“And Allison,” Scott said and got something dreamy over his face. 

“She’s a disney princess,” the witch said, “with arrows that could kill a werewolf.”

“She’s a hunter,” Scott explained and Derek felt immediately on his guard. 

“Don’t worry, she’s one of the good guys.”

“There are no good hunters,” Derek said.

“There are,” Scott argued. “Allison and her dad, Chris, have been really helpful to us in the past.”

“Not Argent?” Derek asked, already knew the answer, because how many Chris that were hunters could there be in Beacon Hills?

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

Derek almost wolfed-out. 

“Hey, calm down,” a hand was placed on his arm and he felt calmer in an instant. 

“What did you do?” he asked the witch, who smiled but didn’t reply.

“I hate when he does that,” Scott said and Derek turned to him.

“He has some kind of spell that makes us wolves calm. He used to do it all the time in high school. It’s annoying.”

“It’s efficient,” the witch said. 

“I-” Derek said, having forgotten what they were talking about. He followed the other two to the Hale house and when they arrived the witch opened the door, as if he came by there every day. 

Derek wondered what else Laura hadn’t told him. 

“Did Laura bite you?” he asked Scott as he left Izzie sleeping in the stroller on the porch. 

“A rogue did,” Scott said. 

“I didn’t know there was such a thing as werewolves before I got bit. Styles was the one figuring it out.”

“Styles?”

“Stiles, with an I,” the witch called. “No, it’s not my real name and no, I’m not telling you my real name.”

Scott laughed and Derek followed him inside. 

“Oh, good, you’ve met Scott and Stiles,” Laura said when they entered the kitchen. 

Stiles was already eating a cinnamon bun on the kitchen couch. 

Derek sat down on the other end of the couch and Scott sat down in one of the chairs.

“You want coffee, Derek?” Laura asked and Derek felt a pang of something, regret?, that his own sister had to ask, when she obviously knew how the other two non-family members wanted their coffee and tea. 

“No, thanks.”

“Tea?” Laura asked and Derek nodded. 

“Sure. Thanks.”

Stiles did some swirling motion with his finger over his teacup and then took a large sip.

“Ah, perfect,” he said and Derek frowned. 

“He chilled his tea somewhat,” Cora explained, having stepped into the kitchen just seconds earlier. 

“I can chill yours too, if you want,” Stiles said and Derek shook his head. He kind of liked having his hot tea in front of him, too hot for drinking, just waiting for it to be ready to be drunk. 

“Don’t mind his hand motions either,” Laura said. “They’re all for show.”

“I feel like it’s helping me focus my magic,” Stiles protested.

Derek let the conversation flow over him. It was nice being home again, being around the pack. 

Stiles and Scott were at the house almost every day, along with Erica, Boyd and Isaac. Derek thought he wouldn’t have liked to have other wolves around, but these worked well with the rest of the Hale family. Maybe that was why Laura had bit Erica, Boyd and Isaac?

While Derek had gotten used to them, he still felt awkward around Scott and Boyd, never knowing what to say. Scott talked anyway, but Boyd was harder, he didn’t say much and Derek didn’t know what to say either, which left them in an uncomfortable silence if no one else was there to fill it with their chatter. Luckily, there was almost always someone to fill the silence. 

Stiles was something Derek had never met before. He was all hand motions and while he had a certain grace with his magic, he would often stumble on his own feet or knock things over. Derek couldn’t quite figure him out. He liked Stiles though. While Stiles was as chatty as Scott he could still sit in silence with Derek and read. Stiles’ mind was a fascinating place too. He could go from one subject to another in seconds, leaving Derek hard to keep up with him. He was funny, too. He bantered with Derek in a way that Derek had missed in New York, a way that he had bantered with his sisters when he was younger, before everything went wrong and most of the Hale family was killed in that horrible fire. Derek couldn’t banter with Cora or Laura the way he used to. He still felt guilty over the fire and knew that it was his fault that most of his family was dead. He couldn’t say anything to them about the guilt, he was selfish and didn’t want them to hate him. He also couldn’t say anything that could possibly hurt them. So he kept his mouth shut. 

But with Stiles it was different. Stiles made him want to banter and be more careless. And Stiles let him, even talked back to him, always with that glint in his brown eyes. 

Derek went on a walk with Izzie who had fallen asleep in the stroller as soon as he put her down, but he opted for going on a walk anyway. He walked down the road that led to the house and then took a turn onto a smaller path into the woods. He suddenly got a feeling of being watched, a prickling in his neck. He stopped and turned around and came face to face with Stiles. 

“What the-?” he let out and Stiles smiled at him, made a wave with his hand and the spell he had put upon himself dispersed and Derek could once again hear his breathing and heartbeat, scent him and that gum in his pocket.

“How-?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. 

“Magic,” Stiles wiggled his hands a bit. 

Derek rolled his eyes.

“Why, then?”

“Laura said I should try sneaking up on you, it’s good training. Laura’s the only one I can’t sneak up on. Yet. And you, apparently. How did you notice me?”

“It was more a feeling of being watched.”

“So I should close my eyes next time?”

“You’d trip and fall then,” Derek said with a small smirk, turning back and started walking, pushing the stroller in front of him. Stiles laughed and started walking behind him.

“Would not!”

He tripped then and almost toppled over, if it hadn’t been for Derek being in the way. Derek straightened them both and chuckled. 

“What was it you said again, hm?” he asked and Stiles spluttered, but apparently couldn’t come up with a reply.

“Where are we going anyway?” Stiles asked after walking maybe a minute in silence.

“Can’t you just walk around without a goal?”

“That’s boring.”

Derek disagreed.

“We’re going to a lake,” Derek said and Stiles made a sound of surprise.

“There’s a lake here?”

“Yeah, it’s a bit further into the woods.”

“Cool.”

They soon came into the clearing and the small lake, more of a pond really. 

“We used to come here when we were kids,” Derek said and pulled off his shirt. 

“What are you doing?!” Stiles asked in a high pitched voice. 

“I’m going for a swim.”

“That’s insane,” Stiles said and then muttered “Oh, god,” which Derek wasn’t sure he was meant to have heard. 

Derek turned to smirk at him and then walked into the water. It was cold and Derek was probably insane, Stiles was right about that.

He dived when he had gotten far out enough and it was freezing. He came up for air again and turned around to walk up to the shore again. Stiles had sat down in the grass next to the stroller and was watching him. His mouth fell open and he didn’t avert his eyes from Derek when Derek came closer. Derek felt self-conscious all the sudden. It was first when Derek sat down next to him that Stiles’ mouth snapped shut and he turned his eyes away.

“Was it cold?” Stiles asked.

“Freezing,” Derek said and Stiles let out a delighted laugh. 

“I told you you were insane,” Stiles said on a laugh.

“No, you said ‘that’s insane’, you never said I was insane.”

“But you are, aren’t you?”

Derek laughed and laid down on his back in the grass, his hands behind his head. Stiles turned towards him and his mouth fell open again, as if he wanted to say something, but somewhere between his brain and mouth the words got lost. He snapped his mouth shut and turned his head towards the lake again. 

“I’m bisexual,” Stiles blurted out suddenly and Derek rose an eyebrow. 

“Okay?”

“I’m sorry, I just- I want people to know but I don’t know how to tell them.”

“Show, don’t tell,” Derek said and Stiles laughed slightly.

He turned towards Derek again and smiled. Derek’s breath hitched in his chest and Stiles leaned forward, towards Derek. Derek knew what would happen, but before he could stop it, Stiles’ lips were on his. Stiles made a sound in his throat and caressed Derek’s cheeks as he opened his mouth against Derek’s. Stiles’ lips were warm against Derek’s, his tongue even more so. Derek opened his mouth and their tongues met for the first time. A surge of something, it felt like magic, ran through Derek’s body and he arched his back as Stiles made a sound into his mouth.

Derek pushed Stiles away. 

“I’m straight,” he said and took his shirt and pulled it on even though he was still slightly wet on his back. He took the stroller and walked back to the house. 

Stiles didn’t try to stop him. Derek had no idea why he was disappointed at that. 

I’m straight, he chanted with every step he took. 

He came back to find the house empty, which was a surprise, there had always seemed to be someone in the house in the few days he had been there. Derek changed his wet clothes and put on another pair of shorts and a tank top. Izzie was fast asleep and would be for a bit longer. Derek sat down on the porch swing and tried to read. His thoughts drifted back to that kiss all the time though. He told himself that it wasn’t weird that he thought about it, it was, after all, his first kiss with another man. The thing was, his lips were still tingling and he could still feel that magic inside him and he wanted to feel it again. It was strange. 

Erica was the first one to arrive at the house. Derek had met her a few days ago. She was a blonde bombshell with brown eyes and red lipstick most of the time. Apparently Laura had bit her to cure her epilepsy. Her boyfriend Boyd had been bitten too along with their friend Isaac. 

“Hi,” she said as she stepped up on the porch. She looked down in the stroller to see Izzie sleeping. 

“She’ll wake up soon,” Derek said. 

“Can I feed her when she does?”

“Of course,” Derek said. 

One thing he wasn’t going to complain about was that with all the people running around the house there was always someone willing to help him with Izzie. 

Erica smiled and sat down next to him on the porch swing. 

“What are you reading?”

Derek showed her the cover of the book he had found in the study’s bookshelf. Truth was he hadn’t read anything since he sat down on the porch swing. He couldn’t stop thinking of that kiss. 

When Izzie woke up Erica picked her up and cooed at her. She fed her and burped her and then even changed on her. Derek was forever in her debt. 

Laura and Cora came home from their works and then Boyd and Isaac arrived, followed by Jackson and Lydia. 

Scott, Allison and Stiles were the last ones to arrive to the house and Derek quickly averted his eyes from Stiles’ lips. They ate and Derek didn’t know how to behave around Stiles. Luckily there were so many others so he didn’t have to talk to Stiles at all that evening. 

Laura came into his room late that night when everyone else had left.

“Hi,” she said and cooed a bit at Izzie.

“Laura, I’m trying to get her to sleep.”

“Sorry.”

Laura sat down on his bed and waited for Izzie to calm down and go to sleep.

“What happened with Stiles?” Laura asked.

“What do you mean?” Derek said, hoping Laura couldn’t hear his elevated heartbeat (she most likely could). 

“You were acting weird around each other tonight.”

“No, we weren’t, we didn’t even talk to each other...”

“Exactly,” Laura said. “He likes you, Der, and you’re freaking out.”

“I’m not,” Derek lied.

“Derek,” Laura said, her tone sounding so much like their mother’s, that Derek almost got tears in his eyes.

“I’m straight,” he said.

“You don’t have to be,” Laura said. “I mean, if you are, that’s great. But it would also be great if you weren’t. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”

“I’m straight.”

“Good night, Derek.”

Laura left him alone again and he laid down on the bed watching the moon through the window. It was almost full. Just a few more days left. 

“I’m straight,” Derek whispered in the darkness around him. 

Why did the words sound like a lie even to his own ears?

Stiles kissed him slowly and Derek arched up against him. They were back at the lake, in the grass. Stiles kissed down his chest and ground down against his hardness. 

Derek woke up with a start, his hard member throbbing from the dream. Before he was even aware of it, his hand found its way down his boxer briefs and he was jerking it quickly. His release came hard and messy when he thought of the dream. He was embarrassed that the dream of Stiles had made him come so hard. It was just a dream, Derek told himself as he showered. It doesn’t mean anything.

The full moon approached and Derek almost looked forward to spending it with the pack. He hoped Stiles wouldn’t be there. Derek wasn’t sure he could handle Stiles’ scent on the full moon. There was something intriguing about the other man, Derek couldn’t put his finger on what it was though. 

Stiles didn’t show up on the full moon, which Derek was immensely grateful for. They ran out into the forest, all wolfed-out. Lydia - the banshee - was home with Izzie and Derek felt he trusted her with Izzie. He trusted all of the pack with Izzie except for Allison. He still wasn’t sure where he had her. He knew she wasn’t her aunt Kate, but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel lost. But Laura trusted Allison, which was good enough for Derek for now. 

Derek ran next to Erica and Boyd, whom he had gotten quite close to. Erica was just as fierce as he first had thought, but there was also a quiet, kind side to her that Derek had come to cherish. 

They had lost Isaac somewhere a while back, but they only laughed and kept on running. 

“Race you to that big oak!” Erica yelled and they started running. It wasn’t really a match for Derek to win, he was after all a born wolf. 

He lost both his friend somewhere after he had run past the tree, but he didn’t care. The moon was full and he was young and had a beautiful daughter. He found himself outside a house with an intriguing scent. He sneaked around to the front, keeping into the shadows. Someone was sitting on the stairs that led up to the porch. Purple eyes turned to him and Derek should be scared - but he wasn’t.

“I was wondering when you were gonna show-- Derek?”

Derek recognized the voice immediately. It sent shivers down his spine.

“Stiles?” 

“The one and only,” Stiles said and there was a smile in his voice. 

Derek shifted back to his human self and took a few steps closer. Closer to that smell. He could still feel the pull of the full moon, even if he was no longer turned. 

“So...” Stiles said when Derek didn’t say anything. He walked closer and Stiles stood up, trying for casual but Derek could scent his sudden nervousness. It smelled good. Derek didn’t realize he had Stiles up against the railing until he had his face pushed into Stiles’ neck. Stiles smelled  _ so good _ .

“Uhm, Derek?”

“Don’t talk,” Derek said and leaned back so he could capture Stiles’ lips with his own. Stiles moaned into the kiss and arched his back. Derek’s hands were under his shirt, flat against Stiles’ lower back. The magic zinged between them, with every press of lips against lips it grew stronger.

_ Mine _ , echoed through Derek’s head and he had no idea where the sudden possessiveness had come from, the only one he had ever referred to as his was Izzie and she was, well, his by blood. 

Derek kissed Stiles’ neck and Stiles leaned his head back, giving him more space. Suddenly there were hands shoving him away, not hard, but gently. 

“Hey,” Stiles said and Derek whined when he realized that Stiles was the one who pushed him away. “Hey,” Stiles said more gently, cupping Derek’s cheek. “I want this to happen, okay? But not like this, not on the full moon when you’re high on… full moon...”

Derek whined and tried to kiss Stiles again. 

“No,” Stiles said, voice firm and Derek shrunk away. “Let’s talk about this some other time, okay? Now run back before the others come looking for you. Especially Scott, he’s weirdly possessive of me on the full moon.”

Derek wanted to growl at that, but managed to keep his own possessive feelings inside. 

“Now, run along.”

Derek shifted and Stiles smiled at him. 

Everything was going to be okay.

Derek ran back into the forest and headed towards the house when he met up with Scott. 

“Why do you smell like Stiles?” Scott asked in a weird way of greeting.

“I bumped into him,” Derek said, aiming for casual and probably missing by miles. 

Scott’s face turned sour and before Derek could say anything Scott attacked him. Derek tried to fight him off without hurting him too much, but Scott was furious.

“Enough,” Laura suddenly roared and Scott shrunk back while Derek stayed in the same spot, while Laura was the alpha she couldn’t manipulate Derek as easily as she could with the bitten betas. “What’s wrong?”

“He smelled like Stiles,” Scott whined, sounding like a child.

_ Did not _ , Derek wanted to say, but that would take him down to Scott’s level. 

“So?”

“Stiles is  _ my _ best friend.”

“Oh, honey,” Laura said and there was laughter in her voice. “Trust me, Derek doesn’t want to be Stiles’  _ friend. _ ”

Scott’s mouth formed an O as realization hit. He turned to glare at Derek.

“If you hurt Stiles...” Scott began.

“If you hurt Derek...” Erica suddenly piped up and Laura rolled her eyes so hard Derek thought they might get stuck in the back of her head.

“Well, now that that’s settled, let’s head back, it’s soon morning.”

Derek trudged last with Erica. As the moon started to sink and the sun rose Derek realized what he had done. He had basically molested Stiles. For some reason Stiles had smelled good to Derek’s werewolf-y nose and he had gotten carried away. 

“It will be okay,” Erica said and took his hand, as if she could sense Derek freaking out. She could probably hear his heart beating quicker. 

Derek had thought of apologizing to Stiles, but he realized he was too much of a coward to face him. He figured the weird feelings would go away if he just avoided them and Stiles. 

Stiles had come over a few days after the full moon but Derek had gone on a run the moment he heard Stiles’ old, blue Jeep. The fact that Stiles stayed for dinner made Derek have to sneak in and up to his room. 

This all repeated itself every time Stiles came over until Stiles stopped coming over all together. Derek knew the others still met Stiles, he could smell Stiles on them. His scent had turned slightly sour though, as if he was unhappy with something.

“Can’t you just talk to Stiles?” Scott asked him suddenly one evening when they were sitting on opposite ends of the couch, Derek reading a book and Scott watching a game of lacrosse on the TV. 

“Why?”

“Because he’s miserable, that’s why!” Scott said and his eyes flared gold in a sudden burst of anger. “If you don’t want him, then fine, just let him know so he can go on with his life. He’s still waiting for you to snap out of this, you know.”

Derek didn’t know what to say so he kept quiet. Scott sighed and got up from the couch and left the house.

Derek realized he couldn’t avoid Stiles forever so he decided to go talk to him at his work at the local coffee shop.

He pushed the door opened and the smell of coffee and  _ Stiles _ washed over him. Derek closed his eyes for a moment, steeling himself. 

“There you go, William,” Stiles said and Derek opened his eyes to see a brown-haired man smiling at Stiles.

“Thank you,” William said. “And my number is right there.”

Derek wanted to throw William out of there for flirting with Stiles. His vision blurred and he had to blink a few times to clear it. Stiles was suddenly standing right in front of him, looking annoyed.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his arms crossed over his chest. 

“I’m-” Derek said, trying to come up with some excuse. 

“Is he bothering you, Stiles?” William asked, suddenly standing next to Stiles. “You want me to get him out of here?”

“I’d like to see you try,” Derek sneered at him and William shrunk back. Derek might have flashed his eyes at him.

“No, Derek!” Stiles said through gritted teeth. “Come here. Thanks, William, but I’m handling this.”

“See you around,” William said and Derek didn’t care if he stayed or left because Stiles took his hand and that magical feeling he had felt on the night of the full moon was back with full force, zinging through their fingers. 

Stiles shoved Derek none-too-gently into the kitchen behind the counter. 

“Leave us,” Stiles said and the two or three people left quickly.

Stiles turned to Derek, his arms crossed over his chest, and glared at Derek.

“Speak!” he said and Derek didn’t know what to say.

“I-” Derek tried.

“You can’t just turn up here after more than a week and then look at William like that. You had your chance, okay, big guy? You had your chance and you blew it.”

“Are you going out with him?” Derek asked, even though he didn’t want to know the answer.

“If I am it’s none of your business. Look, Derek, if you’re interested then fine, we can go on a date, but don’t play with me. Don’t do this hot and cold dance. I’m too old for this shit.”

“I’m straight,” Derek said because that was what he had convinced himself the last few days. 

“So I’ve heard,” Stiles muttered. “Look, you can keep avoiding me if you want, but I’m done trying to avoid you and the pack house - your house.”

“Okay,” Derek nodded and Stiles nodded.

“Great,” he said but his scent was sour, he didn’t like this at all, Derek could tell.

Derek nodded again and then he left when he realized that their talk was done. He missed the presence of Stiles the moment he stepped outside. 

What the hell was wrong with him?!

Stiles hadn’t lied when he said he was done with avoiding Derek and the house. He turned up almost every day and for some reason it made it very hard for Derek to concentrate on anything. 

Not even in his own bed was he left alone. He was avoiding Stiles and the rest of the house, but Stiles’ voice drifted up from the living room and Derek didn’t know what to do. 

Erica came into his room one evening, she sighed when he looked up at her from his phone where he’d been playing some stupid bubble shooting game.

“Derek,” she said. 

“Erica,” he mimicked her voice and she pursed her lips and closed the door before sitting down on his bed. 

“Are you ever coming down?”

“No,” Derek answered petulantly. 

Erica rolled her eyes. 

“You’re being stupid.”

“Am not,” Derek said.

Erica reminded him somewhat of Stiles in a weird way. Though Erica didn’t make Derek’s blood boil and she didn’t make it hard for him to concentrate on anything else but her smell. But in her manners, they was she was fearless and how she let him talk back at her, but at the same time taking no shit. 

“I think he has a spell on me,” Derek admitted at last. 

“Yeah, it’s called love,” Erica said, her voice gentle. 

“No, it’s- it’s not- I’m straight.”

“So I’ve heard,” Erica said. “You know that no one cares about your sexual orientation, right? No one but you.”

“I think he’s put a spell on me to make me go insane,” Derek said, ignoring Erica’s voice. 

Erica did something he never thought she’d do - she slapped his cheek. 

“Erica!”

“Don’t talk about him like that,” she said angrily. “He’s my friend, too, you know. And he would never do that, okay?”

Derek nodded. He didn’t really think Stiles would actually put a spell on him, but it was the only solution he had come up with. The alternative was too scary to even think of. 

“You’re not under some stupid spell, Derek, there  _ are _ no spells that could do that, especially not to a werewolf.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.”

“But then...”

Derek didn’t dare to utter the words.

“You’ll get there,” Erica patted his hand and got up. “Are you coming down?”

Derek nodded slowly.

He followed her down and sat down in one of the armchairs in the living room. Stiles wasn’t there, which was both a relief and a disappointment.

“Where’s Stiles?” Erica asked in his place. 

“He’s got a date,” Jackson said with a doucy smile on his face. “With William from the coffee shop.”

Derek felt his blood run cold. 

“I don’t like William,” Cora said with a sour look on her face. 

“Cora!” Laura reprimanded. 

“What?”

“We’re being supportive.”

“I’m not being supportive of wrong life choices,” Cora muttered and Derek sent her a thank you in his mind. 

There was something bugging him about William though. 

“Where did they go?” he asked. 

“To the movies,” Laura said. “Why-? Derek, no.”

Derek was already up and in the hallway, shrugging on his leather jacket.

“Derek,” Laura said. 

“I’m going for a run,” he said.

“Not dressed like that,” Laura said.

Derek tried to open the door but Laura pushed it shut before he could escape.

“You’re not going out,” she said. 

“I’m just going for a run,” Derek said again.

“I told you no!” Laura growled, her eyes flashing red. 

Derek wanted to cower under her eyes, but there was some feeling inside him that kept him going. Something that screamed at him to protect his pack, no matter the cost.

“You’re a lousy alpha,” he said and Laura looked as if he’d slapped her. Only it hurt her way more than a slap ever would. 

It was the price he paid to keep pack safe. He pulled the door opened and walked out. He started running and was soon outside the movie theater. He walked inside, hoping to catch Stiles before he went inside to see whatever movie he was going to see. 

“Hey there,” someone said and Derek turned to the voice. 

“Hi,” he said when he noticed the gleaming brown eyes and red lips. 

She smiled and walked up to him. 

“What do you say we get out of here?” she asked and he nodded. 

“Wait,” he said, because there was something he was going to do here. 

“No, come on,” she said and he couldn’t remember what he was doing here. Whatever it was it could wait. This brown-haired goddess, however, could not. 

She pushed him up against the wall in the alley outside and kissed him. There was something off with her kisses though. They didn’t feel… Stiles!

He pushed her away.

“What are you?” he asked. 

Her eyes were no long brown but black and so was her hair. 

“Oh, now he remembers,” she said and hit him across the face. Derek evaded her next hit and pushed her away. 

“Sleep,” she said and he fell down to the ground, trying to fight it, but her powers were too strong. 

“Hey, leave him be!” someone suddenly said. Derek could hear the familiar voice, but he couldn’t do anything to get up or even open his eyes. 

“Oh, another, didn’t my brother handle you?”

“I can handle myself, thanks,” Stiles said and Derek realised that the scent of William and the scent of the succubus in front of him were the same. 

“Where’s William?” she asked and then screamed in anger when Stiles didn’t make an audible answer, but perhaps he had used his hands. 

“You’re going down,” she said. “You’ll regret killing my brother.”

The spell on Derek dispersed and he got up, feeling groggy. He stumbled, but instead of falling someone caught him.

“Hey,” Stiles said. “What were you doing here?”

“You shouldn’t date William,” Derek got out and Stiles let out a breathless laugh. 

“You don’t say,” he muttered and got Derek to his blue Jeep. 

On the ride back to the house Derek got back to his usual self and slowly realized what had happened. 

“She was a succubus, right?”

Stiles nodded.

“And her brother an incubus.”

“And now she’s going to try to kill us all?”

“Probably,” Stiles nodded. 

He made a turn left onto the road that led up to the Hale house and Derek willed him to go faster. 

Suddenly Derek felt as if he couldn’t breathe. 

“Stiles,” he managed to get out. 

“What?”

“Izzie,” he said, because he knew, instinctively, that something was wrong with Izzie. 

“Oh, no,” Stiles said and stepped on the gas. 

When they arrived at the Hale house the whole house’s lamps were lit.

Derek was out of the car before it had even stopped. 

“Izzie?” he called.

“Derek!” Laura said and ran up to him, her hands on his arms. “She’s gone, I don’t know where, she was there and then she wasn’t and- oh, god,” Laura sobbed.

“It’s the succubus,” Stiles said. 

“I’m going to kill her.”

Derek was on his way back to the car when Stiles put a hand on his arm. 

“It’s okay, big guy,” he said and Derek shook his head, trying to fight the calmness of Stiles’ hand on his arm. 

“Look, we need a plan,” Stiles said. “We need to find out where she’s keeping Izzie and we need a plan.”

Derek realized Stiles was right and despite his panic at not having his daughter near him, he knew he had to trust Stiles.

“Let’s head inside and find a map,” Stiles said.

They all gathered around the kitchen table where Stiles laid out a map over Beacon Hills.

“Can I borrow a necklace?” he asked Laura, who immediately pulled hers off. 

Stiles swung the necklace in circles over the map and had his eyes closed, as if waiting for something. Derek had no idea what he was waiting for. Not until it happened. The necklace stopped swinging and the pendant fell down on the map. 

“Gotcha,” Stiles muttered and opened his eyes to look at the map. “She’s in the harbor.”

“Let’s go,” Derek said and then, “We can talk strategies in the cars.”

Derek got into the passenger seat of Stiles’ car with Erica, Boyd and Lydia in the backseat, having to cram together closely. They called the others on speaker phone and talked about different approaches. 

“Look,” Stiles said, “I can get past her without being noticed and the rest of you can keep her busy while I get Izzie.”

They all agreed that that was the best idea.

Once in the harbor they tumbled out of the cars and gathered. 

“I’ll try to get as high up as possible,” Allison, the hunter, said. 

“And we keep her busy. She’s expecting us,” Laura said. “Be careful.”

They nodded at each other and Stiles walked away towards the sole old building in the harbor. 

“Stiles,” Derek said and Stiles turned to him.

“Do you trust me?” Stiles asked and Derek nodded.

“Of course,” there was no hesitation in Derek’s voice.

“I’ll get her back to you,” Stiles promised, and Derek knew he would. 

They sneaked behind Stiles who suddenly was gone. Before Derek could charge at whoever made him disappear, Scott put a hand on his arm. 

“He made himself invisible,” he explained, “we’ve been practicing on that.”

“Oh.”

They walked towards the big, opened doors of the old storehouse. There was a light lit inside and Derek was just close enough to see Stiles’ spell disperse the moment he stepped inside. 

“Oh, shit,” Stiles swore before he fell down, unconscious. Derek hoped at least that he was only unconscious. 

“Go, go, go,” Laura said and the werewolves charged inside. When they stepped inside there was fire everywhere and the succubus kept moving, almost glitching in the smoke-covered air. Stiles lay unconscious on the floor and Derek tried to get him up and away from the flames but she kept throwing flames at him, never directly on Stiles though, the flames seemed to just evade him. There was probably some magic in that too. 

“There’s mountain ash by the door,” Erica yelled and Derek realized that the last of the Hales would be killed by being inside a house on fire with mountain ash surrounding it, too. He managed to pick Stiles up at last and made to move towards the door, hoping that maybe Stiles’ magic would move the ash barrier. 

“Stop!” the succubus yelled suddenly and she was up by the roof, holding Izzie out before her over the fire that caught in more and more boxes in the storehouse. “I’ll tear this one to pieces if you make one move.”

“Izzie,” Derek said, turning towards her. 

“We can come to a different solution,” Laura called over the roaring flames.

“No, you will die inside here and she will too.”

Suddenly there was a deafening scream and everything happened so quickly. Allison fired an arrow straight at the succubus’ heart, she dropped Izzie and the crying baby fell down in the flames.

“Izzie! No!” Derek yelled and tried to make his way towards his baby girl. Her screams had long since grown quiet.

The others pulled him out of the burning building. 

“Izzie!” Derek cried out, trying to get back into the now completely burning building. Laura was holding him and crying too. 

“Hey, look!” someone suddenly said and when Derek looked up towards where Lydia was pointing. There was a light from above them and there was a creature with white wings that slowly came down towards them. An angel, Derek realized. Only, it was wearing Stiles’ body. He looked around but couldn’t find Stiles’ body, that he had forgotten when the succubus had held Izzie over the roaring flames. Did this mean…? Was Stiles dead, too?

Stiles’ arm was around the waist of a black-clad Allison with dirt on her cheek, and on his left there was a small bundle and Derek recognized the blanket. Izzie cooed as Stiles - the angel? - touched the ground. Allison rushed up to Scott and kissed him but Derek only had eyes for Izzie and Stiles. 

“Here, daddy,” Stiles said and handed Izzie over. His wings disappeared and he was his usual self. 

“Dude, you managed to fly!” Scott said. 

“Desperate times and all that,” Stiles said and Derek blinked at him. 

He wasn’t an angel, he realized. He was just plain old Stiles with soot on his forehead. 

“How...?” Derek asked and Stiles smiled.

“I’ll explain when we get back home.”

Derek rode in the back with Izzie in the carrier in Laura’s car and he wasn’t able to stop touching her. 

After everyone had gotten cleaned up and Izzie was fast asleep again in Derek’s arms, they sat down in the living room and everyone’s eyes turned towards Stiles, eager how exactly he had pulled it all off. 

“Last I saw you were unconscious,” Jackson said and the others nodded. 

“That was a fake me,” Stiles said and laughed at the expressions. He snapped his fingers and suddenly there were two identical Stiles standing in front of them. He snapped his fingers again and made a duplicate of Jackson. 

“What?” Jackson said and the others laughed.

Stiles - the real Stiles - snapped his fingers again and the other Stiles and the other Jackson disappeared. 

“So I can make duplicates of others too, which I did with Izzie while hiding with the real Izzie.

Lydia and Allison saw me, so Lydia screamed to make the succubus focus on her and Allison shot her. Then I realized that the building was ignited so I took Izzie, Allison and flew up in the air - and the rest you saw for yourself.”

“I-” Derek said and didn’t know what to say to thank Stiles. “Thank you.”

Stiles smiled at him and Derek smiled back. 

The next few days Derek had trouble leaving Izzie by herself. Even with the house full of werewolves he knew that something could happen to her.

There was a knock on his door and Derek called out for whoever it was to come in. 

“Hey,” Stiles said and stepped inside. “I made you something,” he said. “Or rather, I made Izzie something.”

He held out his hand with a small necklace with a pendant with a rune on it in the palm of his hand. 

“If Izzie is in agony of any kind it’ll immediately send a zing to the wearer of this bracelet,” he explained, holding out his other hand. Derek put the necklace on Izzie and Stiles helped him put on the bracelet. 

“Why?” 

“I know how much Izzie means to you.”

“But why? After how I’ve treated you.”

“You mean a lot to me, Derek, even if… even if you don’t think of me that way I’ll always-”

“I do though,” Derek said and Stiles stopped mid-sentence and stared at him, his mouth falling open.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Derek asked when Stiles obviously didn’t know what to say. Stiles nodded and they went down. Derek called for Cora to watch Izzie and then they stepped out.

They soon arrived at the glade with the pond and Derek sat down in the grass. Stiles sat down next to him. He had been unusually quiet the whole way there, obviously waiting for Derek to say something. 

“Last time we were here,” Derek started, “You kissed me and I was unfair to you. I said some things I regret now.”

“What things?” Stiles was barely breathing, as if Derek was a deer that could be scared off. Derek wasn’t scared though.

Well, he was terrified that Stiles had moved on, but he pushed through anyway.

“I said I was straight,” Derek said. “It turns out, I’m not.”

“You’re not?”

“No,” Derek shook his head and dipped his chin slightly, looking at Stiles.

“How-?”

“I always thought I was straight, but then I met this amazing guy and… well, I fell pretty hard for him.”

“Oh,” Stiles beamed at him. “It’s not Scott or someone else, is it?”

“No, Stiles,” Derek chuckled, “It’s you.”

Stiles beamed even more and leaned in to kiss him. He stopped just inches away and leaned back. Derek opened his eyes, having expected the kiss of a lifetime. 

“Wait, you’re not just saying this ‘cause I saved your daughter?”

“No, Stiles. I realized this the same night, but earlier. I was going to talk to you but then you went on a date with  _ William _ .”

“Oh,” Stiles said and then he closed the distance between their lips. 

The magic zinged between them and Derek laughed when they pulled away.

“Are you doing that thing with the magic?” Derek asked what he had always wondered.

“No, not intentionally,” Stiles laughed and pushed Derek down onto his back. 

“Awesome,” Derek muttered against Stiles’ lips. If he meant the magic zinging between them or the fact that Stiles straddled his lap, he didn’t know. Maybe a bit of both. 

Yeah, both was good. 


End file.
